iOS 27.2 Lets iPhone Users Block Apps From Siri and Search in One List

Apple’s iOS 27.2 update gives iPhone owners one place to keep specific apps away from Siri, Search and suggestions. A new menu called Excluded Apps takes over from the older App Access controls, according to MacRumors, and an app added to it is cut off from all three at once.

The trade-off is that some Siri features stop working for any app on the list, including help with messages and questions about what is on the screen.

What did Apple change in iOS 27.2?

Before this update, hiding an app from Siri took several separate steps. Users had to go to Settings, then Apple Intelligence & Siri, then Apps, and flip each app’s switches one by one. Those switches included an option called “Learn from this App” plus a set of suggestion options that showed up in Search and in widgets.

MacRumors reports that the old setup mixed two kinds of controls. Some switches only changed on-device personalization, meaning how the phone tailors suggestions to your habits, and did not block Siri from the app’s contents. Keeping an app’s content out of search results fully also required a separate “Show Content in Search” switch, found inside each app’s own page under Settings, then Apps.

Excluded Apps replaces that scattered setup with a single list where you can select several apps at once. Each app needs to be added only one time.

How do I exclude an app from Siri and Search?

The new menu sits in the Siri section of the Settings app. The steps, as described by MacRumors:

• Open Settings on the iPhone.
• Tap Siri.
• Tap Excluded Apps.
• Tap Add Apps, pick the apps to block, then confirm the choice.

From that point, the selected apps are unavailable to Siri, to Search and to suggestions.

What stops working when an app is excluded?

Blocking an app can switch off some Siri features tied to it. MacRumors cited findings from the Electronic Freedom Foundation that putting Messages on the list prevents Siri’s AI features from reading or answering your messages.

Onscreen awareness is also affected. This is the Siri feature that answers questions about whatever you are looking at when you call it up. It no longer works inside any excluded app, so asking Siri about a message, page or document open in that app will not get a useful reply.

How do I let an app back in?

The change can be undone app by app. In the Excluded Apps menu, tap Edit, tap the minus button beside the app you want to restore, then tap the checkmark at the top of the screen to save. The app regains access to Siri and Search.

What does this mean for iPhone users?

People who want certain apps, such as a banking app, a journal or a messaging app, kept out of Siri and search results now have a single setting to check instead of switches spread across two parts of Settings. Under the old system, someone could turn off Siri learning for an app and still see its content in search because the separate search switch was left on. The new list removes that gap by covering Siri, Search and suggestions together.

The cost is convenience. An excluded app loses Siri help, so users who rely on Siri to read or reply to texts, or to explain what is on screen, will notice those features missing in the apps they block. Since apps can be removed from the list at any time, users can test which apps they want to exclude and restore any that they miss.

Source: MacRumors